How to write an acrostic poem
from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit When we think of 'poetry', we often think of poetry that rhymes. But there are many other styles of poetry and each one is different from each other. Acrostic poems are special, unique poems that do not necessarily have to rhyme. It has the topic written vertically, and, at each letter, something to do with the topic written horizontally. Steps Before You Write Gather Supplies Get out a pen or pencil and piece of paper, or open a word processor on your computer. It is recommended to have a dictionary or thesaurus on hand when you write. Know How Acrostic Poems Work Before jumping right ahead in the writing process, you should at least know what an acrostic poem is. To make an acrostic poem, you must have a strong title. You'll write the title vertical on the page. Depending on the number of letters in your title, you'll be creating fewer or additional lines in your poem. For example, if your title is "SINGING", you will have a 7-line poem. Do some research. Find examples of acrostic poems in a poetry book or online. Learn from the masters. There are millions of well-known poets that have written acrostic poems. Edgar Allan Poe is one example. Writing While you write Brainstorm a topic, and choose a title. It doesn't necessarily have to be one word or a very short word, just one that you want to get a certain feeling across. Remember, even though acrostic is a different type of poetry, it's still poetry! They can still have the same poetic devices every other poem has. Write the word of your title vertically on the page. You will want to have one letter for each line. Add the lines of your poem to the acrostic. Your lines will begin with the corresponding letter of that particular line. For example, if you are using "SINGING" as your title, you will write a sentence that has meaning that starts with the "S". The next sentence will start with an I but has to relate to the first sentence. Continue doing this until the end of the word. Each line has to relate with each other line, and the acrostic letters must also relate to each other. The Rewriting Process Review your poem and fix any errors. Look for mistakes in grammar and. Only stop editing when you are fully satisfied with your work. Make sure that your poem makes sense. If there's anything you aren't sure of, change it right away. More times than not, the things that stick out at you once will stick out to everyone else. Share it with your family and friends. Usually we are too caught up in our work to spot simple mistakes. You might know the entire poem by heart and might not spot that a word is misspelled. Tips Be creative! Acrostic poems don't have to rhyme, but you might try to give it a shot anyway. You can use any kind of format, depending on the nature of the acrostic. If you're having trouble or you're not inspired, start off with a very short title. Thesauruses and vocabularies can be very helpful if you don't find a word that expresses your feelings or that you have to change but you don't know how. Use them when really needed. If making an acrostic on a computer, use something like Microsoft Word. If making on paper, use pencil, then trace in marker. Example of an Acrostic Poem DARLING by Sondra Crane Dearer to me than words impart Always in my thoughts and heart Right from the very start I knew, Love would always mean just you. In every dream I see your face, No one else can take your place, Go where I will, you’ll always be, The only Valentine for me. See also Acrostic How to Write a Poem How to Write a Love Poem How to Write a Haiku Poem How to Become Inspired to Write Poetry ---- Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on "How to Write an Acrostic Poem". All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA-2.5 license. Category:How-to articles Category:WikiHow articles Category:Imported, updated, or created in 2011